The ICE agent who killed an LA man accused of making threats has been identified

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot and killed a Los Angeles man on New Year’s Eve allegedly threatened his girlfriend’s ex-husband with criminal prosecution for revealing his name, according to a restraining order request and records reviewed by The Times.

ICE agent Brian Palacios was first identified by The Times in January as a homicide suspect based on court filings in the custody dispute. Palacios was off duty when he shot Keith Porter Jr. in the Northridge apartment. The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police say a gun was found in Porter’s possession the night he was killed. Some of Porter’s friends suggested he was firing a gun into the air to celebrate the New Year. Federal authorities said that after the incident, the ICE agent was calling the suspect an “active shooter” when he opened fire. Palacios’ attorney said he was acting in self-defense.

On May 21, Omar Escorcia, the ex-husband of Palacios’ girlfriend, filed a motion to prevent Palacios from becoming one of the two children with whom he shared custody. Escorcia alleged in the restraining order that Palacios’ involvement in the shooting made him too dangerous to be around children.

A judge issued a temporary ruling on May 22, according to Escorcia’s attorney, Michelle E. Diaz.

Palacios’ attorney, Stacie Halpern, said Tuesday she could not comment on the allegations in the restraining order. ICE and the US Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the restraining order, Palacios contacted Escorcia by phone on April 30 and told her that ICE was opening a criminal investigation against him.

“For now, my company is going after you to arrest you for what you did. You put my life in danger by putting my name,” Palacios said, according to a transcript of the phone call included in the restraining order.

Palacios told Escorcia that agents would come to his house to interview him, according to the restraining order request, and said they might make an immigration arrest at Escorcia’s home.

“Make sure no one is undocumented. Okay?” Palacios added at the end of the minute-long conversation, according to a transcript of the call.

The Times reviewed a recording of the conversation similar to the petition contained in Escorcia’s petition.

According to the transcript of the phone call, Palacios accused Escorcia of leaking his name to organizers and the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter, which recommended that Palacios be prosecuted for shooting Porter.

Melina Abdullah, the founder of Black Lives Matter LA, said this week that her organization had never been in contact with Escorcia and did not know Palacios’ name until after The Times identified him.

Diaz said that he does not believe that his client leaked the name of the agent to anyone. The April 30 call “went unanswered,” according to Diaz, who said Palacios began contacting his client.

“Knowing that an armed ICE agent has my case against me, that he is using his position with the federal government to harass and threaten me, and that he has no remorse for killing another man, causes me real fear,” Escorcia wrote in her restraining order, referring to Palacios’ comments as “threats.”

Porter’s death has become a rallying cry for Los Angeles activists, who regularly invoke his name at Police Commission meetings and protests. The LA County district attorney’s office will ultimately decide whether criminal charges are appropriate.

Jamal Tooson, the attorney for the Porter family, says he found witnesses who said Porter was seen returning to his house when he was shot. Tooson also said the witnesses did not hear the officer describe himself before he fired three shots.

“This recording increases the lack of remorse for the killing of Keith Porter Jr.,” Tooson said, calling on the LAPD to complete its investigation.

Porter’s mother, Francello Armstrong, said listening to the recording evoked the grief and anger she felt after her son’s shooting.

“He has no remorse, no compassion,” he said of Palacios.

Palacios’ attorney, Halpern, said there was evidence that Porter shot the agent first. A law enforcement official previously told The Times that detectives found evidence of two bullet holes behind where Palacios was standing at the time of the shooting, which would support Porter’s suspicion that he was shot.

Halpern said Palacios returned to work a few weeks after the shooting. The agent has since moved out of the apartment.

It is unclear what criminal act Palacios accused Escorcia of committing on the phone.

Federal officials have complained repeatedly about ICE and Border Patrol agents being “sad” in recent months, and in rare cases, prosecutors have filed criminal charges against activists accused of sharing personal information about immigration officials online.

Under federal law, the crime of “doxxing” requires that the victim’s name and address be made public for the purposes of intimidation or incitement to violence. The mere identity of a federal agent is not protected by itself, by law.